Can We Crowdsource a ThaT Burger in London?

I'm not entirely sure what the word "crowdsource" means, it seems like one of those words they would use in a Guardian live blog, see also - "blogosphere" (vomit) - that I'm not sure anyone really understands.

ThaT Burger was a very good restaurant that was open for a disappointingly short amount of time, this might be because it was conveniently located in Watford, i.e nowhere near anything good. It just happened to serve the kind of hamburger I'm quite a big fan of - 2oz patties of fresh Angus chuck cooked on a flat chrome griddle, toasted squishy white buns, lettuce, American cheese and pickles. It was really really great. See?

Unfortunately for all concerned, ThaT Burger's proximity (literally 10 metres) to a McDonald's and perhaps the people of Watford's unwillingness to experiment proved too much for the business and they shut in early February. On my final visit I was fed nearly everything on the menu (it was an uncomfortable drive back to south London) by ThaT Burger owner and all round good guy Justin Davies, who despite obvious disappointment seemed optimistic about the future.

6 months on from ThaT Burger's closure it doesn't seem any closer to re-opening so I'm starting some sort of half-hearted, pseudo campaign for ThaT Burger to move to London proper. Following some Twitter "buzz" (the most terrifying of all kinds of "buzz") about the opening of a London branch of rather westerly - California, to be exact - hamburger chain In'N'Out, something that I've often stated will never ever happen, I figured that the re-emergence of the really very excellent ThaT Burger would be the best thing for all concerned.

If only we could just talk Justin in to dropping that slightly annoying second capitalised T I'd be a very happy man. If you'd like to eat what I think will be the closest thing to an In'N'Out you should send Justin a Facebook communicae or preferably non-threatening e-mail telling him how much you'd like to see ThaT Burger open somewhere in the very centre of London or even just give him your money. Lovely stuff.

ThaT Burger on Facebook

* THE PHOTO IN THIS POST IS TAKEN FROM THE WILL EAT FOR MONEY BLOG AND ITS TYRANNICAL OVERLORD IBRAHIM SALHA.

ONE DAY SPECIAL!

Well, it'll certainly happen for one day. Special? Maybe not so much.

Anyways - at next Sunday's West Norwood Feast (that's the 4th September, date fans) and for one month only I'm doing away with the 2oz, onion laden, New Jersey-style slider. BUT WAIT! Things aren't as bad as they seem because for one day only, I'm going to be doing a smashed 4oz number.

So that's a plain and simple 4oz of East London Steak Company Shorthorn beef (a blend of chuck, short rib and brisket), smashed onto a burning hot griddle, on a toasted squishy white bun from Kindred bakery in Herne Hill topped with/without a slice of American cheese, home made dill pickles and diced white onion.

It might look something like this.

But then it might not. That photo of a single cheeseburger from nice looking fast food chain Steak n Shake, was taken (stolen) from the excellent A Hamburger Today website, thanks you lovely people - I hope you haven't been blown away (I don't know if you've heard, there was a hurricane).

So that's next Sunday, West Norwood - I'll have some hamburgers and you should come. YEAH?

YEAH!

Honest Burgers, Brixton Village

HI!

You might remember that there was a fairly stupid review of Brixton Village's Honest Burgers in this space. Well, thanks to the volume of snarky comments/e-mails/Twitter DMs I received, it was taken down - I've kinda got better things to do than to reply to people who, amongst other things, called me "smarmy & condescending" and "seriously uncool" - I'm not uncool, just ask my mum.

I decided to go back. One of the complaints levelled at the previous review was that I had 'ambushed' Honest Burgers on their third day of trading so I thought heading back when they've had a good month at least to bed in and hone their craft seemed fair. So the return leg started well, the staff are still very nice and they've done some seriously fine work with the limited space afforded to them. I had previously moaned about the lack of pickles on my hamburger, so the Honest Burger - a mature cheddar (I know, I know) and smoked bacon topped creation - which prominently states the inclusion of pickles was swiftly ordered.

It arrived. Why do I have a knife? I don't know. The damned thing is in a bowl and even if I wanted to cut it in half it would be pretty tough considering this is a fucking butter knife. Anyways, the first sign of pressure on the bun and it began to collapse.

To aid the bun's destruction from above, it was helped by the liberal addition of red onion relish decaying the underside, a condiment that's still as unnecessary as it was on my last visit. As I delved in further, my prized pickle turned out to be a clumsily cut chunk of cornichon - a Byron-esque mess of preserved vegetable.

It's not Honest Burgers fault that I don't like cheddar on top of my hamburger, I probably shouldn't have ordered it -  instead of a molten veil (a la processed American cheese-food) there was the usual hardened mass of dairy. The bacon, lacking any of its advertised smoke, was neither hear nor there - cooked to that murky no man's land between crisp and flabby. I wasn't asked how I'd like my 4/5oz (at a guess) of Ginger Pig beef cooked, it turned up north of medium, lacking any deep bovine flavour and utterly lost in the giant, disintegrating bun around it. Getting to the end was frankly, pretty difficult.

As you might be able to gauge from this, and if you were lucky enough to read it (LOLZ), my last review - I just can't bring myself to enjoy the hamburger from Honest Burgers. What I will say is that at £8 including chips it certainly is not bad value, also they have those vaguely ration-era enamel bowls that I like. Crockery bonus. But it's a wholly disjointed experience where no one element is better than mediocre.

I'm still going to visit the Village for the other excellent ventures - lovely ultra-local and seasonal fare from the Cornercopia, coffee from the Antipodean folk at Federation Coffee and the finest (read: only) salted caramel gelato I've ever had from Lab G. I really want to like Honest Burgers - why shouldn't I want to like a local business serving my favourite foodstuff?  But unfortunately my dreams of a conveniently delicious meal on my doorstep have fallen apart, like so many poorly constructed hamburgers, around me.